All religions, arts, and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. -Albert Einstein-

When I was 14, my friend encouraged me to go to church with him. I was living in Alabama close to Montgomery at the time, and embraced Christanity and it's morals. I looked at Christanity with a blind eye on everything else. I was baptised a few months after joining the church, and pretty much seduced into the belief of a higher power.

One thing that never left me was questions. I learned over time the rationality has no place in religion. Simple questions were answered with irrational answers. I would ask "How could one part the ocean?" and the answer would be "It was God's divine will"

Soooo, I would accept that when I was younger. I would look into the sky and say "Yeah, it is your will," not knowing at the time that I was talking to clouds and not God.

I find the whole concept of a higher power to be frivilous now. If that offends you then I appologize but that is my belief. i think religion does a lot of good in this world and some people would be completely lost without clinging to the concept of a higher power.

I now believe that we use God as a scapegoat to take the blame off of us. Human nature is full of denial and blame whether that be to Satan or God.

First off, one thing that gets me is Heaven is up and Hell is down. Ok but what really is up and down when we look at the cosmos. Sure on our tiny little insignificant planet up is the sky, and down is the ground. In the vast universe there is no such concept.

Hell is a concept of fear to put into people. You must live your life according to this philosophy or you will burn in the pits of hell, or be away from the mercy of God.

Heaven is a concept to put hope in the minds of those who follow the divine prophocy.

Now heres anothe brain buster. There are billions of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindu, and Jews. (Not to mention other religions). Nobody here can tell me one is wrong and the other is right with 100% certainty because the hard fact is that we do not know. Simple as that. We try to find reasons for everything but we do not know.

I will post more here in different topics about my beliefs, but I think it is time for us as humans to take the blame for our mistakes, not rely on a higher power to do things but find our inner strength and do it ourselves. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if we sit around waiting then nothing will happen. More people have died in the name of God then anything else on the planet.

Let's not dwell on what we think happens after death but concentrate on what we can do in life. What we know is that we are here now and whatever happens...happens. It's beyond our control so why worry about it?

I agree with you about the fact that we often use many "scapegoats". In fact, that is the opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be about. Christians are supposed to help others, not sit around waiting for God to fix everything.
My honest opinion is you didn't think about things enough or search hard enough. I once was at the point you have stopped at "the dark night of the soul", but I continued and have passed that point now. I don't know if you saw my post about my personal beliefs http://www.religionforums.org/showthread.php?tid=1100 but I hope you will view it and that it helps you somewhat. "Seek and ye shall find"

Christianity is not an empowering faith. The core tenants involve us being unable to do anything on our own, being wretched, sinful creatures, and being made of the dirt (honestly, I don't know why some Christians are so against the idea of coming from monkeys. It's better than dirt.)

Atheism, on the other hand, says that there is no guiding creator to force punishment on us, or help us achieve greatness. What happens to us is up to us. That is empowering.

I'm back baby! Thanks for everyone who sent me PMs asking what had happened to me.

Interesting how you have the ability to make anything good sound bad. I thought the core tenant was "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son".
I somewhat disagree with you on the 'empowering' as well. You see our 'empowerment' to govern ourselves has brought the world to the bring of destruction twice in the last century (nuclear weapons & global warming). As we note that the Catholic church was against scientists way back in the middle ages, and both of the aforementioned problems were the direct result of science, one could conclude that perhaps indeed there is such a thing as divine guidance. Of course, one could conclude that there is not as well. I am not saying science is bad and cannot be of great benefit, but, the misuse of anything always produces bad results.

And isn't it interesting that the religious right has been at the forefront of promoting nuclear weapons AND denying global warming?

And do you know what else was the product of science? The computer you're typing on. The TV you watch. The plastics you use. The car you drive. That's all science. Science is what gives us a higher average lifespan now than we have ever had, in all of history.

I'm back baby! Thanks for everyone who sent me PMs asking what had happened to me.

Exactly my point. The "religious right-wing" is not affiliated in anyway with the Catholic church. This car, tv, plastic, and computer are all contributing to the destruction of the planet. It is also the unfortunate reality that you cannot keep everyone who will ever be born alive forever. There is just not enough room on this planet. Why would anyone want to live long anyway, heart attack is the best way to die, all death occurring after the age of 70 is usually horrible (stroke, cancer, alzheimer's) and after the age of 65 most peoples brains start to deteriorate, most are not in good physical condition.
As I said "I am not saying science is bad and cannot be of great benefit, but, the misuse of anything always produces bad results".